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    Madama Butterfly: “I gave tears to the earth”

    Published November 17, 2014 by

    Despite the incessant coughing and overtly assertive scent of floral perfume filling up the Arsht Center, soprano Kelly Kaduce (Cio-Cio-San/”Butterfly”) and mezzo-soprano Caitlin McKechney (Suzuki) delivered an extraordinary performance in "Madama Butterfly" on the opening night of Florida Grand Opera's 74th season. "Madama Butterfly." Brittany Mazzurco...
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    Serious fun at The Swamp – and everywhere – at Miami Book Fair International

    Published November 17, 2014 by

    “Live Painting With Lebo!” at The Swamp. Photo by Michael D. Bolden. The 31st edition of Miami Book Fair International, staged at the campus of Miami Dade College in downtown Miami, opened Sunday with dance, poetry, radio and authors addressing serious topics. There was also serious fun at The Swamp, a popup lounge set up on one of the campus parking lots, including live painting to music, poetry karaoke and, it being Miami, a closing set by Suénalo, a Latin funk nine-piece band. The Swamp includes an open-air space with a book sales tent, a food truck and a bocce court; a roomy, hangar-like performance space, with a stage and inside walls covered with art by local artists, a porch, and a beer stand with offerings from a South Florida microbrewery. The project, a 2013 Knight Arts Challenge winner, is just one part of Knight Foundation’s support for the fair, which is expanding the reach of the event to include live-streaming and daily coverage by PBS, a children’s theater festival, a discussion on the future of publishing, and events with notable poets and National Book Award winners and finalists. But the Swamp, as the Miami Book Fair website says, is “part funky, part fancy—all Florida.”
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    Second Street reopens with a block party

    Published November 17, 2014 by

    Turnip Fest and Mid-East Peace Productions present Second Street: Reopen the Block Party.   One phase of the Second Street Corridor project has come to an end. For approximately three months, several businesses have experienced a change with their normal routines. Although they are mindful that...
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    Creative interventions form new social connections in Akron, Ohio

    Published November 14, 2014 by

    Members of the Akron League of Creative Interventionists. Photo by Eileen Matias. Without fear, what would you accomplish? The Akron League of Creative Interventionists debuted a Bus Stop Confessional in October to encourage people to think and talk about fear in a way that can inspire personal growth. The league members armed themselves with sidewalk chalk and wrote provocative questions near Akron bus stops. They asked, “Without fear, what would you accomplish?” “Can fear be positive?” and “What do you fear?” This group of artists – amateur and professional – has been fearless in building connections by growing the group and by networking with other Akron organizations in person and on social media. The Oct. 31 Bus Stop Confessional wasn’t the only opportunity the Akron League of Creative Interventionists used to fulfill their mission of creating shared experiences in public spaces to break down social barriers and build connections. Each month the group builds an event around a theme set by the league’s founder, San-Francisco-based artist Hunter Franks.  Knight Foundation gave Franks more than $55,000 to create leagues in four Knight cities: Akron, Detroit, Philadelphia and Macon, Ga. October’s theme was Fear. November’s theme is Gratitude.
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    At the Bridges: some terrific offerings

    Published November 14, 2014 by

    Casts of body parts in Duane Hanson's "Ghosts" exhibit. Duane Hanson might be the most famous artist to have lived and worked in South Florida, and who may be more familiar elsewhere. His eerily life-like figures and busts have been shown in museums across the world,...
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    Charting a course of the future

    Published November 13, 2014 by

    By Peter E. Leggett, Walker West Music Academy This October, Walker West welcomed five new members to the Walker West Music Academy Board of Directors. Greg Finzell - Rondo Community Land Trust Harold Minor - Wilder Foundation Dameun Strange - Bush Foundation Nesret Shu-Ankh Theba - Kingfield Dental Karen Welle...
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    Selby Avenue Jazz Fest kick-off

    Published November 13, 2014 by

    By Peter E. Leggett, Walker West Music Academy For the past 14 years, on the 2nd Saturday in September, people of all ages and backgrounds have gathered at Selby Avenue and Milton Street in Saint Paul for the Selby Avenue Jazz Fest. Founded by Golden Thyme Coffee Shop owner Mychael...
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    New apps engaging arts audiences in Philadelphia

    Published November 13, 2014 by

    Two Philadelphia cultural institutions are using mobile technology to engage visitors and provide a deeper understanding of the arts. The Barnes Foundation and Philadelphia Orchestra recently released apps that enrich the audience experience. “The Philadelphia Orchestra is one of only a few in the world to create an in-concert mobile app that augments the concert experience. The orchestra seeks to create compelling concert experiences for both new and experienced concertgoers,” said Allison Vulgamore, president and CEO. In October, the orchestra, a 2011 Knight Arts Challenge winner, debuted LiveNote, its interactive concert guide, at the annual Free College Concert and deployed it again later in the week at its “Stunning Slavic Mass,” both at the Kimmel Center.  Sirmina Dremsizova, a sophomore economics major at the University of Pennsylvania, used LiveNote at the Free College Concert. “It was really user-friendly. I enjoyed the historical bits about composers like Rimsky-Korsakov.  The ‘West Side Story’ was nice. I was sitting with a friend that never watched the movie or the musical.  It really helped to give a context to what was going on, made things clear and why things were happening.”
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    AIRIE Residency: Man and Nature

    Published November 13, 2014 by

    By Reed van Brunschot, AIRIE I started my adventure by driving all the way down south to the very tip of America to the small village called Flamingo to meet ranger Ryan to receive my keys for the AIRIELAB studio. There was absolutely no phone service, and it was a...
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    Celebrate “The Firebird”

    Published November 13, 2014 by

    “The Sun is a life force. It makes everything grow. A divinity that can lift our spirits. I have conceived of the sun as a Bird like those found in American Indian and Mexican legends. The bird is the creature closest to the sun.” ~ Niki de Saint Phalle [caption...